Monthly Archives: August 2010

The HSPH Department of Information Technology welcomes full-time intern, Marc Narcisse. Marc will work in our User Services Group and will provide helpdesk, desktop, classroom, and media services support to the community through January 2011.

Marc replaces Kianna Perry who successfully completed her internship and has begun full-time work at another college. Marc is a Year-Up Boston intern. At Year Up, he successfully completed their outstanding computer technician curriculum which included training in MS Office, desktop imaging, virus scanning, and troubleshooting computer hardware.

Photo by David Shelton

Please join us in welcoming Marc to our technical staff and to the HSPH community!

In early August, the school published its first iPhone and Android mobile application called Harvard Public Health News.

This effort was lead by Sam Harp, Director of Marketing, Office for External Relations. IT’s Christopher Ternan, HSPH webmaster, visually designed the application and provided technical support for the effort.

The HSPH Public Health News app is designed to help members of the HSPH Community and others connect with each other and stay up-to-date on breaking public health news and research, plus events and activities going around the school.

The HSPH Department of Information Technology welcomes full-time coop, Lawrence Tai. Lawrence will work in our User Services Group and will provide helpdesk, desktop, classroom, and media services support to the community. Lawrence replaces Nick Wong who has completed his internship and returned to school.

Lawrence is a current senior at Northeastern University where he is studying business administration and finance. Previously, Lawrence worked as a coop at State Street Global Advisors where he was a member of their computer and engineering team. He brings outstanding technical skills and customer support experience to HSPH.

Photo by David Shelton

Please join us in welcoming Lawrence to our technical staff and to the HSPH community!

Interesting fact: Lawrence is from Hong Kong and is fluent in Chinese and Mandarin.

We are pleased to announce the promotion of Nathan Varney from User Support Associate to Senior User Support Associate.

Nate joined the User Services team one year ago and has quickly become a key technical resource in the department.

Nate led the development of new HSPH computer images for all models of Dell computers, rebuilt our computer laboratory PC image, and has been instrumental in our laptop encyrption project. He also has excellent audio-visual skills and has provided oustanding support to Sarah Bearse, audio-visual systems engineer and group leader for media services, in a number of major upgrades. These include the renovations of Kresge G2, Kresge G3, FXB G11, FXB G12, and FXB G13.

The web team is excited to announce improved Publisher functionality for links that open in new windows. With minimal changes on the user side, links that open to new windows will comply with university accessibility requirements. They’ll also include a nice icon to give website users a visual cue that they open in a new window.

Does this Change how I make Links?
Not really. We simply replaced the “Target” dropdown in the link manager with the “Options” menu.

Why couldn’t we keep the old “Target” menu? I’ve been using it for years!
The old way has been is not included in the most recent official specification for HTML This new method complies with all current and foreseeable standards.

How does this aid in accessibility?
Visually impaired users have trouble with links that open in a new window without telling them they do so. If they click that link the new window would take their focus from the site they were on. This creates a very confusing and unpleasent experience for the user. The new method adds an “new window” icon to the link. It tells screen readers the link is going to open a new window. Crisis averted!

We are pleased to announce the promotion of Mike DeMarco from Senior User Support Associate to Instructional Technologist in the Instructional Computing Facility. Mike replaces Fred Sheahan, who left HSPH in early July, after five years of outstanding work at HSPH.

Although Mike has been at HSPH for less than a year, he’s made an immediate impact with his outstanding technical and customer service skills.

In his new role as instructional technologist, Mike will contribute to many important processes and projects, including: